Change Lifestyle for NHS Treatment
Change Lifestyle for NHS Treatment
New proposals could force patients to meet lifestyle conditions to qualify for NHS treatment. The proposals, which form part of a new NHS constitution backed by prime minister Gordon Brown, set out the terms under which patients are eligible for free healthcare.
Lifestyle changes could include smokers having to quit and overweight people having to exercise and lose weight before they can be treated on the NHS.
It also proposes that patients who miss or arrive late for hospital appointments could face penalties and that there will be a clampdown on health tourists who travel to the UK for free treatment.
The Times, 1 January 2008